A traditional dry mead made from wild honey.

Keith had to clear out a wild bee hive so he harvested the honey and sent it to me. I decided it would be best used for a traditional mead. Despite keeping the honey in the freezer for a month (as I couldn't start fermenting as soon as I recieved it) the honey was very thick and had to be heated just to get it out of the container. It was mixed with water, heated to 180°F, and held there for about 20 minutes. During this time a brown foam formed on the top which I skimmed off. After cooling and mixing with more water to get to about 6 gallons the acid, tannin, and yeast nutrient were mixed in. I did not have enough acid blend so I added extra citric acid. We'll see how this turns out. Finally it was placed in my water bath and the yeast was pitched. We are targeting about a 70°F fermentation temperature.

Notice that the initial gravity/brix/potential alcohol is somewhat low. The sugar content of the honey was lower than expected and typically desired. Being a traditional mead I decided to not mess with this so no extra sugar was added.

I'm running the secondary fermentation at a higher temperature. I'm shooting for about 75°F. Primary fermentation went slowly. There is still noticeable residual sugar in the mead. There was plenty of yeast in the bucket when I racked it.

Racked and tasted on 26 June 2005. Tastes a bit sweet. Not very complex but a pleasant taste. I'll still wait a bit before bottling.

This has turned out to be a mild, pleasant mead. It is best served slightly chilled. Because of the lower alcohol content it is easy to drink a lot of it!